Algae war with lots of ( PICS )

[weemanpow3]

This has been going on for 6 months now and I am going to quit if this keeps up for another month. I tested my water and its perfect and I even broughts it to a LFS and they say it perfect. I do 5 gallon water change every 4 days.

My brother has the same tank( 30g ), rock, sand, skimmer, filter, heater, but not the same lights. He has spotless algae/ no algae. His lights are on for 12 hours. Mine are on 6 hours. I feed every ohter day. He feeds every day. Please help me out. He changes (5g) of water every 3 weeks.

 

[roka64]

Hang in there! Does that HOB have a boiwheel?
Looks like you have a ph pointing down in the middle and another one on the left pointing to the top?
Have you tested your water source?
Have you tried moving the phs?
Can you take out a piece of LR and scrub it in old SW? Do this piece by piece and do a PWC.
I'm not sure your water is perfect, something is feeding that algae, have you tested for phosphates, both in your source water and tank?

 

[weemanpow3]

. The HOB does not have a bio wheel.
. I tested my water and its perfect and I even broughts it to a LFS and they say it perfect. I dont have a phosphate tester but the LFS says its perfect though.
. I only use RO/DI water
. I take the rocks out every 2 weeks and scrub the rocks down and I am getting sick of it.
. My LFS told me to start using C-Balence to start purple agae to kill off green hair algae. Hasent worked yet.
. Water soruce is perfect.

My only option is move the powerhead. I am getting my new lights in monday. It is a 250w HQI 14,000k. any thing else I should do.

 

[roka64]

Hmm, that is supposed to balance calcium and alkalinity. I wouldn't dose if I didn't have a test kit for it. There is a possibilty it can cause a big problem in your tank (but that is not what you are asking).
Ok, so you have tested your RO/DI water, reduced lighting/feeding.

I still have sneaking suspicion, there are phosphates in your tank. I know with cyano, it is sometimes hard to get a good reading because it consumes the phosphates rather quickly, I'm not sure on hair algae.

What and how much are you feeding?
Can you get a small ph and stir up the water movement?
How old are those lights?

 

[Scottm]

the algae ain't coming from nowhere. There is a nutrient source. Are you feeding any invert food? What additives are you using? What kind of food are you feeding? I know it sounds redundant but there is some kind of input into your system causing these problems. I have heard of people using sugar to fix nitrate into a skimmable form, the theory here being the bacteria you fuel with the sugar then consume the nitrate before the algae gets at it, killing the algae. I realize you aren't testing any nitrate but its there even if its not when you are testing. Just a teaspoon does it. water goes cloudy and then in a few days the bacteria bloom gets skimmed off and the water is clear. Keep up your water changes too. It sounds like you are doing everything right. Keep it up, nothing good ever comes quickly in aquariums.

 

[angelscrx]

Are you using anything like a nitrate sponge or carbon? Might help.

 

[weemanpow3]

I dont have a sponge. I thought my protine skimmer takes all the stuff out of the water. I know its my lighting, I cheaped out alot on lights. I paid $80 for them and each bulb is 10,000k 50/50 20w. So when my new lights come in monday with 250w HQI 14,000k this should solve my problem I think.

 

[SeeDemTails]

Do as advised above......but dont expect immediate results.

I would up my PWCs if I was you, and.....GO BUY SOME SNAILS!!!!

Get a bunch for now, you can even take some back to the lfs if you have too many....

I wave a 10 gal nano, all the rocks were covered in hair algae.....so I bought 10 snails, and then I spread them out around the tank, actually setting them on the worst spots.....they are like lawnmowers.

Best thing I have done so far!

 

[Finatic]

How is your SG? What salt are ou using?

I was told that a high salinity in some salt brands can lead to hair algae, Instant Ocean is one I remember in particular.

I didn't quite understand why, but my PO4 and NO3 readings were zero and I was getting some small hair algae spots. My SG was a little out of range 1.026 (stupid hydrometer), when I brought it back down to about 1.022-1.023, it disappeared.

I don't know if the SG had anything to do with it, it worked. Now no hair algae, and my tank gets allot of sun.

 

[canyon15]

and my tank gets allot of sun.

That can cause algea problems if your tank is in direct sunlight.

 

[weemanpow3]

I might have found the sorce. about 3 months ago my mom was feeding my fish and the algae wasent bad but still algae. I had no protine skimmer and my mom feed them alot of food. the frozen food and then gave krill for the shrimp to get. she only feed them for a week, everyday. How do I get this out. What do I do.

 

[Hara]

Just for the record...the term "perfect" as regards to water quality is not an answer. Give real numbers. When you change your lights, you will most likely, have an increase in algae problems because something is feeding the algae. My guess is phosphates. The foods your mother fed affected the water quality. Whether you wish to believe it or not.

What EXACTLY is your filtration. You mention you are taking rocks out and scrubbing them. Please describe how you are doing this.

 

[weemanpow3]

I just put some activated carbon in the filter. I have a cheap walmart filter. It does 50 gallons. My protine skimmer is a 65 gallon coralife super skimmer.


nitrate 0 / nitrite 0 / salt 1.024 / amonia 0 / ph 8.2 / calcium 348.

I take a 5 gallon pale and take 2 1/2 water of of the tank and put it in the pale. Then I take the rock out and put it in the pale and scrub the rock with a tuth brush. When I am done I dump the old water outside and put the rock back into their places and I put new RO/DI water in the tank.

By the way the Light im puting in monday is a metal halide pendent fixture 250w 14,000k. I know this wont grow algae faster.

 

[Hara]

I know this wont grow algae faster

ok, whatever you say.

IMO, you also are lacking in filtration. not enough rock to do the job, and a filter that is not very good.

 

[lando]

By the way the Light im puting in monday is a metal halide pendent fixture 250w 14,000k. I know this wont grow algae faster.

What are you basing that on? As mentioned, algae is photosynthetic. It utilizes light as one of its energy sources. Increasing lighting while you still have this problem is not a great idea. It will only add to the problem. Again...as mentioned, check for PO4. Check the level in your main and the level in the source water you use for water chanes and top-offs. You may be onto something with the food. This is a very common avenue for PO4 to make its way into the tank. Evalutate how you prep frozen food and the amount/how often you feed.

 

[weemanpow3]

I do like water changes every 2 days. I am buying a phosphate tester today and I will test the RO/DI unit and fishtank. I will post results ASAP. I thought 14,000k lighting Algae wil have a hard time to grow. Any way what if I keep letting the algae grow and scraping it off will it eventually die out. Some spotes I noticed are spotless. Ill keep an I on it and Ill use the info I get from this forum to try to solve my problem.

Thanks

 

[lando]

I thought 14,000k lighting Algae wil have a hard time to grow.

While algae prefers lower spectrum light, keep in mind that you are increasing the intensity of your light. This will most certainly add to the problem.

Any way what if I keep letting the algae grow and scraping it off will it eventually die out.

Sadly, it is not that easy. Manual removal is the first step to combating the problem. The key to long-term success is identifying and correcting the problem.

 

[aquazen]

I'm battling hair algae right now as well. I threw out my coralife super skimmer (piece of junk, stopped skimming after 3 months, but I kept the Rio 1100 pump) and bought an Aqua C remora with the smaller Rio 800 pump yesterday. It is supposedly one of the better ones to get. I've also manually removed a bunch of the hair algae, and I've added some macro algae to suck up nutrients. I've already got a decent clean up crew in the tank (snails, hermits, starfish). I'll keep you posted on how this works out.

 

[reefmaster]

snails

Get turbo snails! about 5 and they will pulverise the algae! Snails FTW